be booked after negotiating his bond in advance about 8:15 according to the jail's records and zach cohen and nick valencia here in cnn were able to report and say that he out by 10:00 a.m., and not that lochk a time where someone in this case may be sitting over there at the fulton county jail, and quite a harrowing place to be inside given the history of a lot of difficulties inside of the jail and the cleanliness and the questionsf violence inside of the jail. so we are looking to see how long these arrests take and how long people are there or not, and then at the courthouse, there is business to be done here, too. there are still prosecutors here from fani willis' office caseworking and we spotted them by the large team of cnn keeping watch over this complex. we have also seen one of the attorneys arriving for another defendant, a man named david schaffer, and he was the chairman of the republican party here in georgia and essentially the lead fake elector in georgia who is accused of some of the charges around that fake elector plot that donald trump was trying the use tofr turn the

and now, we have zach cohen who is outside of the courthouse waiting for more to show up. >> yes, welark also have to do the same thing. the judge is ruling that they can't avoid being arrested if they miss the friday noon deadline to surrender to the fulton county jail. and bond agreement is what happens before someone surrenders to the kouthouse. and so it is going to be interesting to see if mark meadows and zachary clark attorneys will appear. and so, there are various episodes in which mark meadows is a first-hand player in this conspiracy to overturn the ele election, and influencing an election result is not a state jurisdiction, but federal jurisdiction, and two bold-faced names have less than 24 hours to surrender to the fulton county jail, and so later today, we will see the former president donald trump here in atlanta to surrender, and that is a lot of activity at the jailhouse later, and mark med dose and jeffrey clark, we will see what they do in the next 24 hours. >> zach cohen, a lot of happenings there for sure. kate? >> exactly. 19 people charged in georgia as part

hearing date, and i want to go to zach cohen who is life outside of the courtroom, and what else can reporter: rahel, it is not long for a judge to be making it clear that she would reject a doj proposal to start in january of next year, and donald trump's proposed date of spring of 2026. so it is remaining to be seen what date the judge will set for the date which we are expecting next week. there were a few insight ful comments. the professional bearings have no bearing on when the trial is beginning, and that trump is facing state and federal charges, and that is he has other conflicting cases that might mess with the timing here, and so we will see monday when this is going to start, but the daylight of the two sides is that both of those dates were rejected today. >> so, zach, rejecting both of those proposals, but a insight from the judge today? >> that is right. the judge is saying today, that neither side will get what they want, and we do expect a compromised date to happen there, and the judge going to ultimately make that decision and we should get that announcement monday

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now, we also have new reporting from our colleague sara murray and zach cohen detailing how fani williso has evidence that former president president trump and his allies were trying to breach a voting system in rural georgia as part of these alleged efforts. now, at least one witness is already inside court today and we expect two more will be appearing tomorrow including former lieutenant republican -- former republican lieutenant governor geoff duncan. the earliest any potential indictment could come is tomorrow. >> paula, donald trump we've also noticed is saying a lot on truth social, including director a message at a witness. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: exactly. that message was directed at the former republican lieutenant governor geoff duncan, suggesting that he shouldn't testify as a witness in this case. now, this is not the first time that former president trump has attacked this investigation, attacked the da, fani willis. he has called her, for example, a racist and a marxist. his own attorneys in conversations with them, they have told me that they think

i want to go to zach cohen.ell us what we should expect to see tomorrow and included in that what kind of security should we expect to see? >> yeah, the expectation right now is that donald trump will be in d.c. in person and have to travel to the courthouse for this appearance, and, look, federal agencies and local law enforcement have been preparing for this possibility for weeks now, but they're continuing to coordinate, the secret service already put out a statement warning of increased traffic coinciding with trump's appearance in court tomorrow and, you know, it's a weird dance. you have the local police departments, npd in d.c. is the lead agency but secret service, a federal agency is the chief protective entity of the president so all these law enforcement agencies are all talking to each other ahead of trump's arrival in d.c. expected to arrive in d.c. and the courthouse tomorrow. >> looking back to the miami court appearance there were expectations of thousands. the numbers ended up being much smaller

i want to go now to georgia and fulton county where zach cohen is standing by as we are awaiting wordliani. actually, let's go to nick valencia there in atlanta to tell us about what you are seeing and expecting. >> reporter: it's chaos here to be quite honest. it is a circus. a lot of media anxiously awaiting the former mayor of new york, the former attorney for the former president. we are looking at his, what appears to be his vehicle exiting the jail right now. he seems to be held up by some sheriff's deputies. he's all but guaranteed that he wanted to make a statement to the media after being arrested, and after surrendering. we are standing by with a host of others with networks from around the world waiting for giuliani to comment. ahead of his expected press conference, we have been talking to an individual who identified himself as an adviser to the mayor. he briefly talked about the bond agreement negotiated with the district attorney's office in fulton county. he didn't say much else, saying he would leave it to rudy giuliani to speak about the process. we heard giuliani le

we go to zach cohen who is tracking breaking news. oris. we have largely expected trump to waive the arraignment scheduled wednesday along with the other 18 co-defendants in the case, and entering a plea of not guilty, and so he is joining a couple of the other co-defendants who have done the same, and most notably today, former attorney syd case adds trump enerred a plea against these charges in georgia where he and others are faced with a broad array of channels in georgia which accuses hem and 18 others to overturn the election results in that state. we will have to see how this ultimately is going to affect the plans for a potential trial. we know other co-defendants like the former white house chief of staff mark meadows still trying to go forward, and still big moments with trump entering a not di kill ti three >> we find this case the most interesting, because he is going to be on camera, and he might be in court using the words "not guilty" out loud, and using that clip for his campaign, because in the backdrop, he is running f

zach cohen, cnn, atlanta. >>> joining me now from georgia, tia mitchell is the washington correspondent for "the atlanta journal-constitution." >> thanks for having me. >> ahead of a possible fourth indictment for donald trump, we're seeing a new development in the georgia election interference probe, with prosecutors claiming to have text messages and e-mails link ing trump's legal team to voting system breaches. and this as fani willis presents to a grand jury and she is seeking indictment of a dozen people of early as tuesday as this week. what is the significance of this new development? and could it be a game-changer? >> well, so, the significance is, it gives us further proof that the tampering of election machines in coffey county, georgia, is one of, we think, several threats that district attorney fani willis is looking at, as she considers who to bring charges against and what charges to bring. when it comes to the coffey county election machines, my colleagues have been reporting for months. since almost immediately after january 6th, 2021, about the tampering of election mac

as zach cohen and john berman were just talking about, you have kenneth chesebro who has requested and gotten what, what is asked for a speedy trial written into law for defendants in georgia, and he has a court date of october 23rd, and that is eight weeks away is what we have. and what could that mean for all of the other defendants including donald trump. it seems that it could have a huge impact. >> yeah, it certainly could have a huge impact. i think that this means that initially all of these trials, or the single trial of all defendants will be scheduled early, and then some defendants will move to postpone the trial or sever their cases from chesebro, and so it could result in essentially a truncated trial linked to chesebro or others who are requesting a speedy trial, and then another trial later. i frankly don't know the answer to the legal question as to whether this joinder of defendants is going to take precedence over the defendant's right to a speedy trial, and maybe chesebro cannot be getting a speedy trial because he is joined with defendants who want a postponed trial

zach cohen was there, and what happens next? >> good morning, boris, you are right.ryone is watching and waiting on a decision from the judge to see if they will allow mark meadows to move his case to federal court, and the judge alluded to the fact that it could impact all 19 defendants including trump himself saying that decision is going to likely set a precedent for all of the cases. we know that four other defendants in addition to meadows have filed motions to try to move their case to the federal court, and the former president is expected do the same thing, and we saw one of his lawyers in the courtroom when meadows was testifying. that is how powerful this judge's decision is as he makes the decision as to whether or not mark meadows can move his case to federal court. >> and also, another big decision was the start date of federal case of the subversion of march 24th from judge ch chutkan, and this is coming from a loaded primary calendar, and one day before super tuesday. >> yeah, boris, it is going to be a busy spring 2024 for donald trump. if you are loo

. >> zach cohen, great to see you this morning. sara? on the radar right now, authorities in north carolina have arrested driver who says he accidentally struck six migrants in a walmart parking lot. he said that he panicked and left the scene. he is charged with felony hit-and-run, and he is being held on $50,000 bond. the police say that all six of the migrants hit are out of the hospital. >>> twitter's new flashing x sign is dark. it has been taken down from the top of the company's san francisco headquarters. the city filed a violation because they had installed it without permission. dozens of cities filed violations. and they will be assessed fees for not going through the proper channels. >>> and now, best known for the hbo drama "euphoria," the actor has died. they say that cloud buried his father last week and struggled with his own mental health issues. angus cloud was just 25 years old. >> too young. >>> and now, cnn has the video that a former ohio police officer released a k-9 on a unarmed man in ohio, but he has been fired

zach cohen, thank you. let's go down the road a bit to the fulton county jail, where they have that increased security that we were talking about. quite increased. cnn's sara murray is there on scene for us. what it will like once the former president arrives? >> well, look, we're already starting to see the early iterations of that. it's still going to be hours before former president donald trump is here, but security is heightened, a number of onlookers have been sort of gathering around here, to try to see what they can see. and again, for normal defendants, this is a long, painful process, turning yourself in at the fulton county jail. it takes hours to be processed. we're not expecting that for the former president. this should be a pretty quick visit, but one that's very different than his previous arrests. we've previously seen him show up at a courthouse and be processed there. that's not the case. this time he's showing up here at fulton county jail. what we've seen from other defendants, they're

cnn's zachary cohen is outside of the fulton county jail in georgia. zach, one of the most recognizable people cnn has identified from the indictment is trump political adviser boris epshteyn. >> reporter: yeah, jake, the details in this indictment make very clear that epshteyn is co-conspirator number 3 even though his name is obviously not mentioned in the charging document itself. and a couple of the specific details that really make clear it is epshteyn is the reference to a november 2020 press conference held by then trump attorney rudy giuliani where he was talking about various claims about voter fraud and based on who we know was in attendance and who wasn't epshteyn is really the only person given the context in the indictment who they could be referring to. and the next example is a mention of e-mails that were sent between john eastman, ken cheseboro, who are both attorneys working for the trump legal team, and third recipient we know was boris epshteyn. really that allows us to nail down who this individual co-conspirator number 3 was. >> an att

cnn's zach cohen has been following every aspect of this.y. bring us up to speed. >> reporter: yeah, john. when an impartial judge overseeing this hunter biden plea deal raised questions, and it seemed to unravel last week, it opened the door for republicans to, you know, raise their own questions about how this deal came together and whether hunter biden got special treatment. the names of these three house republicans who were launching this investigation probably come as no surprise. they include jim jordan, the chairman of the house yjudiciar committee, james comer, and the chairman of the ways and means committee. this is part of a broader investigative pursuit under pressure from donald trump to really pursue every avenue possible related to joe biden and hunter biden, and then, you know, they've really increased their focus on hunter biden specifically trying to tie the president to his son's various legal problems. now that's where you get into what happened yesterday behind closed doors when devin archer, the former business associa

cnn's zachary cohen is posted outside the jail where all of this is going to be happening. zachwasn't trump but we did see a high-profile defendant surrender today. tell us about this. >> reporter: conservative attorney john eastman is really described in the indictment from fani willis as one of the architects of the broader effort to overturn the 2020 election. today, he surrendered to the jail behind me and was treated like any other defendant who would come to surrender themselves after being charged with potential crimes. eastman does maintain that he did nothing wrong. that he was simply acting as trump's attorney. that he was giving advice to trump based on his role as legal counsel. listen to what he told reporters after being processed at the jail. >> it represents a crossing of the rubikon in our country. to ask for redress of grievances. as troubling, it targets attorneys for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients. something attorneys are ethically bound to provide and which was attempted here by formally challenging the results of the election through lawf

. >> reporter: a source also told my colleague zach cohen that archer testified that hunter was sellinghe, quote, illusion of access to his father but never provided any evidence linking joe biden to any of these business deals. the same source also said that archer testified he had no knowledge of allegations about a bribery scheme involving joe biden and a foreign national. now, republicans say they feel vindicated after this testimony. and that these speakerphone calls along with a dinner where joe biden was present is proof that the president was more intimately involved in his son's business deals than was previously known. they say biden lied to the american people and they are vowing to continue to dig into the issue. in fact, a trio of chairman also launched a probe on the same day looking into the department of justice plea deal involving hunter biden. they want documents. they want a briefing. a clear sign that they're not letting up on any of these probes any time soon. melanie zanona, cnn, capitol hill. >>> russian officials are accusing ukraine of launching a new wave of dr

cesar zach cohen, thank you so much. >> norm eisen served as judicial counsel during president trump's first impeachment trial. so i want to play his defense and get your reaction. have a listen. >> they're destroying my right it counsel, my right to be a lawyer. it's not accidental they've indicted all his lawyers. never heard of that before in america. >> i blow john eastman's phrase was zealous advocacy here. a lawyer cannot recommend illegal action to a client. what's the standard of determining what legal advice is unacceptable? when does bad lawyering in effect become illegal or criminal? >> because of the extraordinary power that lawyers have in our system, there are boundaries on how far you can go. so it crosses a line if the advice that you're giving to a cloun client is so nakedly illegal, so far beyond the pale that you become a co-conconspirator. that's what fani will sisis is g here. we have john eastman say this alleged attempted overthrow of the 2020 lelection was a coup i search of an allegation. the allegation that fani will sis making is that that lune from legitimat

. >> sara murray broke that reporting with zach cohen and joins us live outside the courthouse in atlanta. this explous employeesive to see that direct link in what your sources are telling you guys. >> yeah, that's right. fani willis and her team have spent two and a half years investigating this case. they could go before the grand jury today and seek charges against more than a dozen individuals. this is coming as we are learning about new evidence prosecutors have obtained throughout the course of this long-running investigation. security precautions already underway at the courthouse in atlanta as fulton county district attorney fani willis is expected to begin her case today. >> we have working for two and a half years. we're ready to go. >> reporter: it's the clearest sign she's expected to seek charges into election interference. jeff duncan, the former lieutenant governor and cnn contributor, confirming he's been summoned to appear before the grand jury. >> i did just receive notification to appear on tuesday morning. i will certainly answer whatever questions are put in front of

zach cohen joins me. what more do we know about what went on behind closed doors?epublicans and democrats were out there claiming victory following this testimony behind closed doors by archer. if you look at the substance of what we are learning about what archer actually told the committee, it seems pretty clear that both parties also agree d that he did not deliver the kind of impeachment worthy evidence that republicans were looking for from their witness. now what we do know is that archer did not provide a direct link between joe biden, the president, and hunter biden's foreign business dealings nor have any knowledge of this bribery scheme, something that's the foundation of a claim that republicans have been touting for months without evidence to support it. the most controversial piece of testimony seems to center around the 20-plus calls where joe biden was put on speakerphone and while hunter biden was surrounded by these business partners. democrats say that archer told the committee that business was never discussed during these calls. they were more l

cnn's zachary cohen, he's been covering this from outside the courthouse in fulton county. zachense of the latest for us, the latest charges coming out of that courthouse there behind you. >> reporter: yeah, jim, a busy legal calendar stacking up here for the former president. we know that the d.a., fani willis, in georgia, in fulton county here, has given the former president ten days to voluntarily surrender. she also issued what is effectively an arrest warrant if he does not choose to do so. we do expect trump to in person surrender to authorities here in georgia. the logistics and the details of that are still being worked out. but you have to keep in mind as well that there are 18 other co-defendants that were named in this indictment who will also have to turn themselves in to authorities here in fulton county. so you know, we're going to have to really see how that plays out in terms of -- because fani willis herself has said she expects and wants to try all 19 individuals including trump together. and that really does sort of underscore what the message of this indictme

. >> reporter: now, all of this is happening as my colleague zach cohen and i are learning that investigatorsis case have text messages and emails that link members of trump's team with this voting systems breach that happened in rural coffee county, georgia. there was this ring invitation to access the county's system from a local official misty hampton that made its way to a number of folks working with donald trump on his post-election legal efforts. people like katherine frees and sidney powell. some of the text messages, this comes from sullivan strickler, a firm hoo ird to access the voting testimonies in coffee county. an employee says, just landed back in d.c. with the mayor, an apparent reference to mayor giuliani. huge things starting to come together. the person goes on to say, most immediately, we were just granted access by written invitation to coffee county's systems. yay. when i talked to giuliani attorney they insisted rudy giuliani had nothing to do with the coffee county breach but we know he is a target in this investigation and one of the people who could potentially face

just a moment ago, our colleague, zach cohen, he said the judge said he is expected to stay for aboutt. that would be around 8:20, 8:30. the grand jury is still meeting and the timing of any potential indictment is unclear. but we expected the d.a. fani willis would need two days to present her case to the grand jury. as we've seen today and as you noted in your great interview with jeff duncan, things have just been moving more quickly. so we continue to wait and watch to see if there could be indictments coming this evening. >> paula, thank you very much. paula is there so she will know it the moment it happens. ryan, paula saying what you thought would be the case but actually put that it would happen tonight but it seems as if it now could be in the next hour. >> absolutely. so that's exactly what people have been thinking is going to happen and now this is one more data point that means this is truly imminent. fani willis a few weeks ago said this is imminent, like within minutes or hours. >> so, evan, when this comes out, the context here is this is georgia, which was a key part

cnn's zach cohen is live outside the courthouse this morning. action is not over there yet, not even close, zach. >> reporter: john, it's been a whirlwind 24 hours here in atlanta, but, you know, with he saw a parade of witnesses -- or a parade of defendants and their lawyers here at the courthouse yesterday and then eventually surrendering before donald trump came down at the fulton county jail down the street. now, look, we still have a lot of moving pieces in play here. looking ahead the legal challenges for the district attorney fani willis as she tries to prosecute all 19 of these people including the former president at the same time are already starting to pop up. you mentioned that the trial date for one of these defendants ken chesebro who was a lawyer helping trump at the time that was set tentatively by a judge yesterday but the judge played clear that that only applies to chesebro and not the other 18 defendants who fani willis says she wants to try all together. we are starting to see maybe some cracks developing or at least complica

potentially as cysted about i these five individuals and one other untied if i had individual. >> zach cohenthank you for bringing us up to speed on these five known other people, the sixth remains something of a mystery right now. thank you so much. and to all of our reporters for that. >>> coming up, much more on this. the indictment and the new details about former vice president's mike pence's conversations with donald trump leading up to january 6 and his testimony and all the detail in then diemt from him. what pence is saying now about this historic indictment. >>> and more about the federal judge assigned to preside over trump's case. no stranger to other january 6th defendants and now facing a whole new spotlight with president trump. >>> and for the first time in over a decade the u.s. debt rating gets a downgrade, what january 6th also has to do with that. we will be back. ♪ it takes two to make it outta sight ♪ ♪ one, two, get loose n now ♪ ♪ it takes two to make a... ♪ stay two nights and gett a $ 50 best western gift carar. book now at bestwestern.com. you tried. limiting when

what we are learning here on the ground, jason morris, zach cohen and i, is that donald trump's attorneysbe working out his bond terms today in a negotiation with the district attorney. we haven't seen them yet here on the ground and we are not sure if we will. we have seen some prosecutors working on the case around the courthouse complex, but once they get the terms set, then there will be a wait for donald trump to go over to the jail, turn them efl in, be arrested, processed and have to spend a little bit of time in that infamous space that has really become the subject of a lot of looking at, making sure the conditions there are okay because there have been so much criticism about the conditions inside the jail, insects and others. it's not a place where donald trump's lawyers or trump himself would want to spend a lot of time, that's why he and other lawyers would be working out bond conditions ahead of time so they can move very quickly because that is a different aspect of the criminal justice system at that jail that trump and others would have to face, trump now being a criminal

, victor and poppy, that we have heard through our reporting from our colleagues paula reid and zach cohene wants to get all of his business done in one day here in fulton county. so he wants to come in to the courthouse complex to negotiate his agreement for bond for release so he doesn't have to be held in jail, and then head over to the jail, be arrested, in and out and be done before donald trump comes to town. there is a lot of questions around their relationship. clearly, he had been the most prominent attorney after the election pushing these ideas of election fraud on trump's behalf. even appearing in federal court to make those claims to throw out votes. then there was a split between the two. trump didn't continue paying his legal bills. giuliani has run into hard times with his legal bills, so he is trying to get a foothold there. there is a question of how much he is willing to split from donald trump in this or if they hold together from the same perspective going forward in this case, but there are so many different defendants here. we are not just tracking rudy and trump. we

our colleague zach cohen and i have learned that giuliani will travel here to georgia tomorrow with bernie kerik. now, he's of course the former new york police commissioner. he is not a lawyer. he is also an unindicted co-conspirator in this case. but he's a long-time friend of rudy giuliani's and he's been helping him try to find a lawyer, something that has proven challenging given giuliani's seven-figure legal bills that remain unpaid. what does appear is at this point they have been able to find an attorney with a georgia license who is at least willing and expected to help them tomorrow with the bond part of this procedure, and it's unclear, though, if this individual will be representing giuliani throughout this case. now, i am also told that giuliani would like to negotiate his bond and enter his surrender all before former president trump shows up here in georgia on thursday. as you and i reported, kaitlan, giuliani went to the former president pleading for help with his legal bills and as of now he's only received a small portion of what he owes. and that of course wasn't from th

>> reporter: what we're learning now at the courthouse from our own zach cohen and kaitlan collins, donald trump's lawyers are here doing negotiations for his own bond terms. donald trump being one of the 19 defendants in this criminal case. there are several different lawyers negotiating terms just like john eastman who has that $100,000 bond set. another defendant in this case who was accused of trying to access the tabulating machines in coffee county, georgia. he has a $10,000 bond. the big question of the afternoon and throughout the rest of the week is going to be exactly how is donald trump treated here compared to the other defendants in this case, and then defendants in the state of georgia in fulton county who are being accused of white collar crime or racketeering charges. does he have some sort of bail term that is set is very similar to these other defendants? is he treated the chafe as other defendants? we won't know that until we see what the agreement is that his lawyers reach with the prosecutor's office here and a judge signs off on it. once we get that, that is what we'r

thank you, zach cohen. now, my panel is back.ay, but it is just going to show that you have now three charged in michigan in the effort to seize and control voting machines. michigan and the former president's claim of the big detroit vote drop is a big part of the indictment. >> yes, and all of the fake electors charged, and maybe charges coming in georgia around all of the interference with the election there, and so you have this intersection and collision between the state level charges being brought and still being investigated and the federal charges, and so it is going to be interesting how the special counsel and the state prosecutors navigate the issues owho of who is going to first, and whose witnesses are first, and the state prosecutors never ever want their witnesses to testify first, and they want the first crack at the witnesses first, so it is going to be interesting to how they do that. >> i want to ask you that in the context of the georgia, but the numbers of people are growing, and three charged in michigan an

let's get you live outside the fulton county jail now with cnn's zachary cohen. zach're learning more about the specifics of john eastman's booking. fill us in on those details. >> reporter: john eastman's attorney spoke to reporters alongside john eastman after he was booked, processed and released from the jail behind me. and he described john eastman's experience in the jail as just like anybody else's. he was fingerprinted. he took a mugshot. and so really we're getting our first look into how these defendants, these 18 co-defendants in addition to donald trump are being treated once they are booked inside the fulton county jail. now, john eastman answered some questions from reporters. his attorney seemed to be trying to persuade him not to do so. but he was very -- he was adamant. he said he had every right to file the lawsuits that he filed in an effort to overturn the 2020 election and that he was acting as an attorney for the former president. take a listen to a little bit of what he told reporters this afternoon. >> it represents a crossing of the rubicon fo

and we have cnn's zachary cohen with these new developments. zach, let's begin with you. tell us more about what you're learning and this new evidence. >> reporter: fred, these are texts, our sources are telling us, are in the hands of the prosecutors in georgia. the text messages really lay out a plan that links trump's own attorneys to the operatives on the ground who did get access to these voting systems in coffee county, georgia. the texts show the days leading up to the attorneys, trump operatives and attorneys were trying to secure a written invitation from an elections official in coffee county that they would use as an excuse or validation to get access to voting systems they didn't have a right to access. these text link rudy giuliani and also his former attorney sidney powell who we know was instrumental in helping fund getting access to these voting systems, not just in coffee county but other states as well. this is what fani willis is investigating in terms of the broader investigation into overturning the election. >> zach, what do you expect will be the se

we begin with zachary cohen on this, who helped break this exclusive reporting. zach, this seems quite significant, this evidence linking members of trump's legal team, to the breach of a voting system there. >> jessica, these text messages add to a growing body of evidence that links donald trump's legal team to this voting system breach here in georgia that happened on january 7th, 2021. more specifically, it links them to this effort to secure written invitation from a local election official there, essentially allowing them, in their minds, to speenter the election office and no election official is allowed to let anyone have access to voting systems. but trump's team and lawyers were trying to convince this election official to provide a letter of invitation. and these text messages show us how they were involved in the planning, and how -- down from rudy giuliani to sidney powell, how they were kept in the loop on the state level as they worked to secure this written letter of invitation, and ultimately access to the voting system there is in coffee county. this

we begin with zachary cohen on this, who helped break this exclusive reporting. zach

cohen is outside the fulton county jail. katelyn polantz is outside the courthouse. zach, first who has surrendered? we should note it's a temporary surrender under the agreements they've negotiated with their lawyers. who has surrendered and what happens actually when they're booked as it's known? >> reporter: yeah, jim, right now we know of two co-defendants, two of former president donald trump's co-defendant who have surrendered here at the fulton county jail right behind me. one of them is a local bail bondsman. his name is scott hall. he's charged with several crimes as part of this sprawling indictment including crimes related to his alleged role in the breach of voting systems in coffee county, georgia, a rural georgia county about 200 miles south of here. the second person we know who's turned themselves in today is conservative attorney john eastman. as you mentioned in the lead-in, john eastman is described in this indictment as one of the architects of the broader effort to overturn the 2020 election. john eastman went in around 10:20 this morning and we saw him leaving just before noon.

let's begin with cnn's zachary cohen on the stunning new development linking trump's legal team to a voting system breach in a rural georgia county. zach, what can you tell us? >> reporter: fred, coffee county, georgia is heavily republican where trump won over 70% of the vote there. but after the 2020 election, allies of donald trump and his attorneys tried to get access to a voting system there and ultimately were successful in that. and these new text messages are in the possession of prosecutors now lay out that plan and connect trump's attorneys like sydney powell, rudy giuliani to this planning process and effort to get access to voting systems. it lays out how in the days before the breach, even before 2021, the attorneys were trying to get written information from a local official there. connecting some of the dots showing this was more of a top-down effort to get access from machines rather than just a sporadic random one-off. trump's attorneys now more connected to this breach than we knew previously. >> so how are spinks expected to play out this week? do we know, zach? >> yes, this week we are expecting the d.a. here to sta

cohen is here to tell us more about them. the ones that we know now about, and of course one that we don't get, zach. >> yeah, erin, the indictment refers to these people as six individuals who trump and listed to assist him in his criminal efforts -- we have identified five of the six people who are described in this indictment and, if you followed along in january six committee hearings, none of these names will come as a surprise, they include people like trump's former personal attorney rudy giuliani, attorney john eastman, and even people like jeffrey clark, the former doj official who we know is trying to use the justice department to overturn the 2020 election. those details, some of the red are included in the indictment. a lot of this information was publicly known, which is how we were able to identify, in part, some of these folks. the unidentified person is described as a political consultant who helped implement a central theme in this indictment, a fake electors plot. this is one of the cornerstones of jackson's case here. he says that trump and the six individuals tried, effectively, to trick these electors in the